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DAUM Commercial Real Estate Services announced today that it represented the seller, Boyack & Company LLC, in the disposition of a +/- 22,533 square foot industrial building on a 1.19 acre lot for $5,130,000 ($227.67 PSF). The building was completed in 1980 and features 2,900 square feet of executive office space, four (4) grade level doors, 17′ clearance and 1,000 amps of power. The property is located at 615 Fee Ana Street in Placentia, CA.

The seller was represented by Chris Migliori, Executive Vice President in the DAUM Orange County office, with the buyer, CRD Manufacturing, being represented by Alan Deszcz of KW Commercial.

About DAUM Commercial
DAUM Commercial is a leading provider of commercial real estate services including brokerage, tenant representation, consulting, leasing, sales and property management. Founded in 1904, DAUM focuses on longstanding client relationships and draws upon its century-long track record to deliver steadfast insights and proven results to clients throughout the U.S. DAUM has ten offices throughout Southern California and Arizona. More information is available at www.daumcommercial.com.

In a statement, Transformco said it “has faced a challenging retail environment” since the transition and will focus more on what it considers more competitive branches of the operation.

That includes Sears Home Services stores and automotive supply locations, branded labels such as Craftsman, Kenmore and DieHard, and Sears Hometown, a network of independently owned small-format stores.

“We will continue to evaluate our Sears and Kmart footprint, consistent with our overall retail and service strategy,” the statement said.

Inland stores that survived the cut include Sears in Hemet and Rancho Cucamonga and a Kmart in Big Bear Lake.

Other Sears locations remaining open in Southern California include stores in Glendale, Downey, Long Beach, Northridge, Orange and Pasadena.

Benavides said she visits the store about once a month and has bought clothing and appliances there. “There’s not a lot of people,” she said.

Sally Hunt, 80, of Riverside, remembers when the Arlington Sears was the go-to place for appliances and back-to-school clothing.

“It’s just that they have so much competition now,” Hunt said. “They just had a wide variety of things. But they didn’t have the competition (in the past).”

Sears had been a major draw in Montclair for years, and shoppers there say it will be missed. When Irene Benavidez learned the store was closing, she said she grabbed her boyfriend’s credit card and headed over to grab a few pairs of leather shoes for work.

“I’m sad because they’ve been around for years,” Benavidez said. “Right now, though, they have killer deals.”

The Montclair resident said she has been shopping at the store for 30 years. “We’ve gotten all our patio furniture from here, excellent prices,” she said. “Their clothing lasts forever.”

Ruben Tafolla of Montclair said he has been shopping at the store since he was a kid.

“We’ve been coming here since we were kids, me and my little brother just running around the store,” he said. Tafolla said his family recently purchased a washing machine at the store.

“From our experience, it’s a really good retail store, really affordable, a lot of good prices,” he said. “I’m pretty sad to see they’re going to close.”

Billy Proulx said Sears was the first company to give his mother a credit card in her own name. Now the 68-year-old Claremont resident visits the store in Montclair at most once a year. He was there Friday, Nov. 8 to purchase athletic gear.

“Sears goes way back,” he said. “It’s kind of sad to see such an institution go.”

A fading name among retailers

Thursday’s announcement represents about one-third of the chains’ remaining stores, with only 182 locations to remain open after February.

Transformco is getting $250 million in financing from its owners, led by Eddie Lampert’s hedge fund ESL Investments. Lambert bought Kmart out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2003 and merged it with Sears two years later.

However, that union came during a period when Amazon started its move toward becoming a retail powerhouse. Home Depot and Lowe’s also pushed hard on appliance sales, hurting Sears’ niche market.

Burt Flickinger, a retail analyst and managing partner of consulting firm Strategic Resource Group, said that unlike chains such as Walmart and Target, Sears made little effort to keep up with a changing retail landscape.

“Lampert is a typical Wall Street guy who can’t communicate with the Main Street consumer,” Flickinger said.”I think Sears is still savable if someone told Eddie Lampert to stay home.”

Flickinger, who disclosed he worked for Sears several decades ago, said the company has talented people working in its stores, but its corporate parent refuses to listen to them or properly market the items on sale. Advertising circulars that could entice customers are never posted in stores, he said.

After acquiring Kmart, Lampert formed Sears Holdings, which filed for bankruptcy protection a year ago. His hedge fund purchased Sears’ remaining assets out of bankruptcy.

This is the third round of store closings announced since then; most of the first two rounds in Southern California involved Kmart stores.

Filling these vacant Sears locations will be a challenge for mall owners and other landlords, many of whom are already dealing with existing vacancies at the former sites of Payless ShoeSource, Bed Bath & Beyond and Toys R Us.

Rick John, senior vice president at the Inland Empire office of Daum Commercial Real Estate, said it will be a difficult task but not impossible.

“I think Sears always had good, solid real estate locations, so there should be the ability to backfill them,” John said.

John said developers would be wise to consider dividing the space and look for more than one tenant for former Sears and Kmart stores. A former Kmart site in Banning now houses four major retailers, including Hobby Lobby and Marshall’s.

Users in the retail food business might be the best option for that strategy, he said.

Another possibility is turning a former store into a hub the online retail industry can use as a last-mile depot, a distribution point that will route packages straight to consumers’ homes. Many Sears locations are close to residential areas, which would cut down the delivery time, John said.

The news did not come as a surprise to Brad Umansky, president of Progressive Real Estate Partners, which specializes in retail properties. The upside, he said, is that a strong economy could make the vacancy issue easier to solve.

“Every landlord who owns these properties has been thinking that this could happen for a few years now,” Umansky said. “Now we get to address the problem during a good market, instead of during a downturn.”

DAUM Commercial Real Estate Services announced today that it represented both parties in the sale of a +/- 10,786 square foot industrial building in Santa Fe Springs, CA. The property is located at 12900-12902 Lakeland Road. The building, completed in 1975 offers approximately +/- 2,800 sq. ft. of office space, 400 amps of power and two grade level loading doors. The total consideration of the sale was $2,115,000 ($196.01 PSF).

DAUM Commercial Real Estate Services announced today that it represented both parties in the sale of a 5,431 square foot industrial condo in Ontario, CA. The property is located at 800 S. Rochester Avenue, Unit B and is part of the Ontario Gateway Business Center. The building offers approximately 3,537 sq. ft. of office space, 17’ clearance, 400 amps of power and one grade level loading door. The total consideration of the sale was $1,140,000 ($210 PSF), a new high-water mark for the business park.

Mr. Gores and Mr. Samarin also represented Sunlux Energy in the leasing of approximately 26,506 square feet of industrial space in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. The building was completed in 1987, and offers approximately 11,828 square feet of office space, 22’ clearance and sits on approximately 2.73 acres of land. The property is located at 10860 6th Street, with the total consideration of the lease near $1.5 million. The building will serve as the growing company’s new headquarters.

DAUM Commercial Real Estate Services provides a full array of commercial real estate services including brokerage, consulting, leasing, sales, corporate services and asset, construction, project and property management. Founded in 1904, DAUM is California’s most experienced commercial real estate brokerage company. DAUM has 10 offices throughout Southern California and Arizona. More information is available at www.daumcommercial.com.

DAUM Commercial Real Estate Services is a member of ONCOR International, a premier global commercial real estate network. ONCOR International LLC, a subsidiary of Realogy Corporation, oversees the ONCOR International member network.